Northern Ireland has topped a league of shame for couch potatoes with more than half of us failing to do any cardio exercise, new research revealed today.

The study, undertaken by YouGov, looked at the lifestyle habits of more than 2,000 men and women from across the UK.

Almost half, 48%, said they did no cardio exercise at all.

Another one in four did one hour a week or less, with only a quarter of the population exercising for more than an hour each week.

The study suggested those living in Northern Ireland were the biggest couch potatoes in the whole of the UK with 58% doing ‘no cardio exercise whatsoever’.

This compared to 47% in England, 51% in Wales and 53% in Scotland.

Predator Nutrition, the sport supplement specialist which carried out the research, said: “With obesity on the rise in the UK it is disappointing to discover that so many of us are still not finding the time to exercise.

“We were shocked to discover that only about half of Britons bother to get any form of cardio exercise at all.”

Women were more likely to be coach potatoes with 50% doing no cardio work compared with 45% of men. More than two thirds of Britons do no weight training. Only 31% of those questioned work out.

Almost three quarters of women, 73%, did not do any strength training compared with almost two thirds, 64%, of UK men.

One in five said climbing an average flight of stairs would leave them out of breath, with 3% ‘gasping for air’ at the top.

Eight per cent were sitting down for 11 hours or more every day, while more than a third, 34%, sat down for at least seven hours every day.

Yet the study comes as Britons need to exercise more than ever before.

Obesity is now a global epidemic with Brits among the fattest on the planet.

The largest study of its kind found there are now 641 million obese adults worldwide overtaking for the first time the numbers who are underweight.

More than one in ten men and one in seven women are obese. By 2025 it will be one in five.

Almost 20% of obese adults live in Australia, Canada, Ireland,

New Zealand, the US and the UK, which has 14 million obese adults.

By 2025, the UK is projected to have the highest proportion of obese women in Europe, 38% followed by Ireland at 37%. Scientists from Imperial

College, London and 700 researchers across the globe compared the Body Mass Index of 20 million adults from 1975 to 2014, their findings released last month.

In the latest study, which questioned 2106 adults, 16% of UK adults ate sugary and processed food every day while 65% ate them at least once each week.

Only a tiny minority, 6%, had the five portions of fruit and veg every day recommended in Govt guidelines. Two per cent admitted they ate none at all.

Twenty two per cent ate less than seven portions a week.

A spokesman for Predator Nutrition said: “Working out with weights can have a massive impact on fitness levels and weight, yet less than a third of adults do so. Only a quarter of women and a third of men bother to workout with weights despite this being a highly efficient way to exercise.

“It seems many people are still intimidated by weight training yet combined with cardio exercise there are proven health benefits. We hope our study will highlight that more needs to be done to encourage people to quit their bad habits and adopt a healthier lifestyle.”